Moments of Eternity
by Dr. Breifs Cat
Summary: Trigun drabbles; usually starring Knives, but sometimes not..
1. Disclaimer, Drabble, Definite

**Disclaimer**

Trigun is the property of Yasuhiro Nightow. Here's how you tell the difference between him and myself: He's this brilliant Japanese writer/artist and I'm this stupid American fangirl who would rather eat shoe leather than live without a few volumes of his manga and a Kuronekosama plushie. 

**Drabble**

A drabble is a story with exactly 100 words, excluding the title. They are really fun to write and great for when you have an idea, but not enough to base a "normal" fic around. 

**Definite**

All drabbles I write will be about one or more of the following things:

1) Millions Knives; usually manga, sometimes anime, either way, the guy is just begging to be picked apart.

2) Rem Severem; she is THE most important character in the series and also the most overlooked.

3) Vash / Meryl; she's the only character in the show who seems to have caught on to what all the fans know: Vash is to be loved.

I don't branch out; I write about my favorite characters/romances over and over. Whee!


	2. Moments 1 through 6

  


**1. What's In a Name?**

Neither Vash nor Rem was surprised to see Knives enter the Rec Room in a huff, a stack of books that should have been far too advanced for the young child griped precariously in arms that were just too short. They greeted him in their usual way. Glad to be rid of the books, he let them drop with a THUNK on the grass. 

"Who named me 'Knives?'"

"I did, honey," his non-mother answered. He gestured to the books...all with titles mentioning 'Biography of...' or 'People of...'

"What kind of a name is that?!"

Vash grinned. "It's a good name."

**2. Regret**  
  
No peace in her final moments, just frantic labor over a stubborn computer console. The tears cascading down her cheeks were more for herself with every passing moment. No time to look back, not a chance to regret, to think on what could have been. A prayer to God and thoughts of Alex was all she could allow herself to hold on to. Yet, when it was over, when all she could do for humanity had been done, her thoughts, words and tears turned to her boys, drifting further away.  
  
"I would have liked to hear them call me 'Mother...'"

**3. Taking Responsibility**  
  
I don't regret her death. But I didn't kill her. Don't blame me, brother. How was I to know she would sacrifice herself?  
  
I was pleased to see him go. But I didn't kill him. The message Chapel gave him wasn't from me. He was to guide and protect you, brother. Not kill you. Never kill you. I wouldn't have punished him for sparing your life.  
  
I was thrilled when he died. You made the choice to protect your butterflies, brother, and killed your spider. But you still did not learn the lesson and there is nothing else to lose.

**4. Hero's Welcome**

Knowing what she saw was real, she began to run towards him, just like she had always wanted to. This time, there was no other girl.

For his part, he had been expecting the hug and slid the bundle that was his brother off of his good shoulder, laying him gently on the ground. He stood up just quickly enough to catch the Insurance Girl projectile. Her arms were around his shoulders, her feet didn't touch ground. His good arm wound around her waist, holding her tightly. 

Vash expected Meryl to hug him like this. 

He didn't expect the kiss.

**5. Twenty-Four Hour Surveillance**   
  
He wouldn't stop looking over her shoulder and fidgeting. It had been irritating Meryl ever since she sat down and began typing, only three minutes ago. Even though she found him more endearing than irritating, she couldn't help but snap at him.  
  
Vash reeled back and under the heat of her glare, nervously stammered, "Do you have to write everything I do in those reports?"  
  
"It's my job."  
  
"But it's embarrassing..."  
  
"You should have thought about that before."  
  
Blushing, he traced invisible circles on the desk.   
  
"Don't you think it's worse for me? I know the people who read these." 

**6. Garden**  
  
Ever since he had been able to move without help, he spent long hours behind the house alone. The girls and his brother knew he went to the well everyday, bringing back as much water has protesting muscles would allow. They didn't know what he did with it. They didn't ask, he didn't offer. They all thought the water and the solitude must be related, as they were all he seemed to care about as of late.  
  
One day, with a smile, he led Vash to a lush, grass-filled backyard and said, "I'll teach you to grow flowers   
for her."


	3. Moments 7 through 12

**7. ****  Dream for the Future**

"...and you'll wake up in Paradise," she finished. Her sons looked up at her from their cryo-sleep pods, the skeptic and the optimist. The latter could barely keep still in his excitement, knowing that when he awoke, his world would be filled with people other than just Rem and his brother. Millions of people, friends! He could finally learn their dreams! No more fantasies!  
  
He was chanting, barely coherent, even has Rem lowered the hatch of the pod. Her active duty over, she sent her boys to bed just before settling herself in for a long sleep.   
  
"Millions, millions, millions!"  
  


**8.  Fall From Grace**

Gnawing on his thumb, not really paying attention to it, it bled.

He smeared the blood on his face, where it mingled with tears.

He did not want them to die.

He did not want to be the one who killed them.

And yet the fact remained: they had to die.

He wasn't thinking about the sleeping people in the other room that he had left, hoping they could ever understand.  He didn't bother to wonder if there was enough sorrow in him that would make them forgive his weakness.  His own pain consumed him fully.  

Nothing exists but him.

  
  
**9.**  **Different Hearts**  
  
Knives hadn't thought it would affect his brother like this. True, he hadn't intended for Rem to die in the Fall, but she was human and death was inevitable. Vash was going to have to live without her one way or another, so he was rather surprised to note even now, the other Plant was still opening crying for her. He tried reasoning with his brother, thinking it strange how the tides had turned. When had Vash become so fond of humanity?  
  
Blood-shot aqua eyes saw him through tears. "You were right about humans before. Their hearts are like ours."

**10.  Misunderstanding**  
  
"Hey, Insurance Girl." Mid-way to a table, pad and pen in hand, the part-time waitress met Vash's eyes with irritation. He had never just sauntered in to the cafe specifically seeking her attention before, but it was his style to get in her way, so she wasn't too surprised.  
  
"I was wondering..."  
  
Twitch.  
  
"I mean, only if you have a break coming up..."  
  
A glance to the doorway betrayed the children egging him on.  
  
"You might..."  
  
Fidget.  
  
"Have lunch with me?"  
  
"You're not getting free food," Meryl replied dryly.  
  
To her retreating form, he pouted. "That's not what I meant...!"

**11.**  **Hypocrisy **

"You're a hypocrite."

Vash the Stampede blinked.

"That you're a gun-toting pacifist is bad enough," Knives refrained from mentioning who gave Vash that gun, "but as much as you teach love and peace, you've never tried to find a solution other than running and shooting."

Vash the Stampede sat, confused.

"If I were in the sort of situation you're always in, I'd at least try to talk it out once before deciding it couldn't be done.  Judging from your actions, you think no one is capable of responding without violence."

Vash the Stampede said to his greatest adversary, "Let's talk."

**12.  And Such Was Eternity **

"We should go."  

The tugging hand was insistent.  It betrayed more concern than the tired voice or the blue eyes that were still somehow closed from him.  Every now and then they'd meet up by chance.  They'd stay together usually a year, sometimes two, before separating.  They loved one another as much as brothers could, but they agreed on little, got along less.  

A century ago, in this nowhere town they'd somehow wandered to again, he'd grasped happiness and failed to hold on to it.  His friends were dead, his memories weren't.  His brother wanted to flee, he, to stay.


End file.
